Mirrors
by SasuNaru Fangirl Seme
Summary: The simple, or maybe not so simple, horrors and wonders of mirrors. Warnings: Squint for slight SasuNaru and some slight OOC.


Summary/Explanation: Based on a weird dream, tweaked a little including the removal of cheese, hamsters, and whipped cream. (No joke.) There was a lot more plot to this dream, but it wouldn't make sense to anyone, so I left it at this.

Warnings: Very, very weird. Slight SasuNaru. Kind of OOC-ish.

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At first, it was the three of us going in, and I'd thought nothing of it.

When we entered the space, we realized we'd entered a hall of mirrors. Not like the ones you see in funhouses and in carnivals. There were millions of mirrors, and the sight of seeing so many of yourself could make you sick. Rectangular, body-sized mirrors made thin, thin hallways, the outer walls, curves in staircase-like block patterns, and loops in swirls and rollercoaster shapes. It didn't help that the floor was as white as you could possibly imagine white to be, and there was no ceiling. It was all multiple mirrors, lying across what should have been the ceiling. So every mirror had you on a blank background.

Sakura had moved away in fear and pressed her back to the entrance. Maybe there wasn't any danger in this…maybe, but it was a task worth refusing, simply for your sanity's sake. Her emerald eyes were wide and her whole body trembled, as she silently pleaded for us to turn around.

Sasuke seemed apprehensive, too. He took a few steps forward and touched one of the mirrors with both of his palms, studying himself for just a moment in confusion before turning to see billions of the same images. We were just in our regular mission clothes, as usual. Everything about him, each contour in his face, each single strand of black hair, and each line in his lips could be seen perfectly, all around. It would be unsettling for anyone, even him. Me included.

I just stood there, not sure whether to be captivated or horrified. Just like for him - you could see every detail of every part of me like a perfect copied image, as far as the eye could see. For once in our history, not one of us said a word. Not a single sound escaped any of us. Maybe we were too afraid of the echo that the mirrors would make. Then, all at once, I remembered why we'd come. We were here to save Kakashi, and that was worth it.

Sasuke turned to me and held out his hand, still without a word. For once, I listened to him without protest. I squeezed his hand, which was already covered in cold sweat, and held my other arm behind me, looking to Sakura. The reflection of us locking hands was displayed across the entire room. I shuddered. Every move we made could be seen from everywhere and anywhere, perfectly. Each mirror was impossibly clear, like there really wasn't anything there, but the reflection told you there was.

For a few moments, she just looked at me. I could see the reflection of her backside, trembling and shaking, matched with her ragged breathing. Maybe she'd seen the future. She seemed to begging, doing all she could to make us give up, but neither Sasuke nor I moved. He didn't even look at her, just waited patiently. Then she swallowed, gasped, and squeezed my hand, too. Sasuke looked back to us and nodded, and then we were moving.

This was something I never would have wished upon anyone else. Despite the simplicity of everything - the three of us linking hands and running through mirrors - it was horrifying. And unexplainable as to why it was so. I had to close my eyes, as within seconds, I could feel myself getting sick. I wasn't sure if Sakura had done the same thing, but Sasuke led us with little error, so he must have been watching. Occasionally, he'd hit something solid with a thud, pause, completely undeterred, and move again. I didn't know how he was doing it.

Then I realized the importance of holding hands. If for some reason someone let go, we'd never find them again, and they'd never find us. They wouldn't be able to distinguish the real humans from the reflection, unless they ran into things like wild until they hit the others. Not even if we called to them - the echo would bounce off of every mirror.

I continued to run blind, keeping a grip on Sakura as I did. Sasuke's pace was beginning to quicken, probably from anxiety, so our legs had no choice but to keep moving.

Then it happened.

A whooshing noise matched with a gust of air in the previously air free room made Sakura shriek. I wondered why, for a moment, and then thought her eyes must have been open. But I wouldn't know what she saw, because she let go of my hand. _She let go of my hand_. Keeping my grip, I tugged on Sasuke's arm and pressed my feet flat to the floor. We skidded for a few seconds before, not daring to let go, he turned to see what I'd stopped him for.

I couldn't see her.

She was gone. The mirrors showed nothing but my horrified face, and Sasuke's blank one. For a moment we just stood still, holding on to each other, eyes darting wildly out of instinct. It didn't matter how long we looked - If we couldn't see her in one mirror, she wasn't in any mirror. If we couldn't see her in every mirror, she was _gone_.

I opened my mouth to scream for her, confused even more so than terrified, but then something else happened. Sasuke's eyes widened - I would know even though I wasn't looking at him, I saw a million reflections of him - and his grip on my hand was suddenly as strong as steel. Sasuke did a half pirouette, taking me along. Then he was all out sprinting, as fast as he could go in what _might_ have been the direction we came. My feet just hit the floor and pulled up again, continuously, but I wasn't really concentrating.

And although I was still behind him, I could see him, unable to close my eyes. His orbs were wide and wild with fear, and clear sweat dripped down the side of his face. I hadn't even heard him breathing before, but now he was all out panting, gasping for oxygen. It was like he was being chased. What was he doing?

I wanted to stop. Wanted to scream for him to quit running, and that we had to go back for Sakura. But how could we? We may have been blessed with a miracle and found her if we'd seen her reflection, and yet, there was none. She was just…gone.

Like she'd never existed in the first place.

Sasuke sped up, if that was possible, and I found myself struggling. Despite our initial speed, to my mind it felt like slow motion. Maybe someone was chasing us. I felt like my backside was totally exposed, like that gust of air might come back and erase _me_. Yet I could see nothing - just us. I wondered, somewhere, in some dark corner of my head, what he was thinking. Maybe the same as I was - get away, or we'll disappear too.

Then the door. I could see the way we'd come, the wooden door that didn't cast a reflection, and ran as fast as he did, evening us out so we were side by side, hand in hand. My mind was racing, my heart was pounding, and my breath was leaving me to the point of feeling faint. Sasuke held his arm out, clutched the handle, threw the door aside, and stumbled out, only ceasing to move when he'd turned - still dragging me, to slam it shut again. Then he pulled me tight to his chest and we stood, shivering in a room made of all concrete, like a grey box.

Neither his nor my breathing calmed at all. We didn't need to say anything - all of our fear, comprehension, horror, loss, and our wish to never go back in, even for what was lost, was understood by the simple touching of our bodies.

So that was how we'd lost Kakashi.

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I'd love to hear any kind of opinion on this, and critique on something, not just grammar, _anything_. I'd like to make this as polished as possible, because I'm quite proud of what it already is, for being a tweaked dream.


End file.
